That about sums up Friday night and Saturday for me.

Adrian, Darren, Alan and I got together near Buena Vista, Colorado for some camping and wheeling this weekend. Long story short, I set up camp, ate a fine dinner of Filet Mingon and corn on the cob, headed down to meet the fellas. When we all got back to camp there was a juvenile bear cub blocking the road. My cooler was overturned and emptied of all edible contents, obviously by a bear. BEARS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

That bastard stole 4 breastes of marinaded chicken, one tenderloin steak, and my butter-like spread for breakfast pancakes. BEARS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And i'm an idiot for leaving it out for them to grab.

In Ouray last August a bear stole all of my chocolate and marshmallows for smores. I'm 2 for 2 on having food stolen from camp by bears. I learned the lesson this time. BEARS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Knowing that bears usually return to sites of sucessful raids, we decided to move camp at 11 PM. All I really know is that there was a healthy snow falling and it was about 30*F when I woke up at 6:30 AM.

Saturday was really fun and interesting. I'm going up for more in the AM. The other guys are still up there living the good life and enjoying themselves a lot i'm sure.

 

Wow, talk about luck! Hope you got some good pics this weekend!

 

So you saw Booboo? I'll bet Yogi wasn't far behind! That sux man!

 

While bears were eating Matt's food, I was feeding the Stellar's Jays.

You can see most of my snapshots here and here. .

The only loss we suffered were:
Food (Matt)
Jeans (mine, tore a hole in them)
1 AA NiMH battery (mine)
Firestik II antenna (Adrian's)
Am I forgetting anything?

 

Aw. Matt doesn't like little bears, boo hoo. Just kidding! You'll have to feed them some MT/R some time.

Nice pics, Alan. I'll get mine put up later tonight. In the meantime, here's a quick tease:


Notice the trail marker on the left. That river ride was a trip!

 

. . . as promised

 

When the trail maker arrow points into whitewater its always an adventure. Mark down Taylor Pass as a must do soon trail. Before long i will be open all the way to Aspen. I'm really sorry I couldn't hang with you guys longer.

Where are the pics of Adrian's twin lockered rock sled stuck by Mirror Lake????

Next time I see a bear in the middle of a road I just might give it a taste of Golden French fry crappy tube bumper and have bear meat steaks for dinner that night and a nice bearskin rug to give away. Would that be considered poaching?

I took no pictures because the cam I usually use is in California with its rightful owner, my roomate.

Very nice pics guys. The Panorama that looks down on timberline of all those peaks from the top of Cottonwood pass is really a keeper!!!!

 

Sorry, no pics of the snow sled stuck or me pulling it out.

Also, here's a 3.5 MB video of Alan going down the small waterfall. Not really tough, but was my first video and was the best part of the trail.

Here's a 4.1 MB one of Adrian. I ran out of room on that memory card which is why it got cut off at the end. I'm going to blame Adrian for driving too slow.

 

Looks like you had a great trip. I'm sure it was beautiful this time of year. Wish I could have gone.

It's looks like you were fairly close to Taylor Lake and the pass. I drove to the top last fall. But there wasn't near as much water. Where else did you go?

Matt,
Dude. You've had poor luck with bears. But since they're part of our wilderness. Stop ragging on them. I personally enjoy seeing them. A cooler with ratchet straps will keep them from your food. My friend successfully kept a bear out of his cooler last summer with this method

 

Mmmmm, bear steaks....

I've heard the flavor varies greatly depending on their diet, but the one time I had bear steaks, they were so good, I would've sworn off beef if I knew I could get a regular supply. Unfortunately, I don't see many bears in the woods where I hunt/camp. I see lots of sign, but I've never seen a living specimen there (seen a couple after they were shot by hunters).

Chris

 

damn yogi...

well he is smarter than the average bear afterall

 

 

We spent Sat. morning south of Union Park like you suggested. We ended up on FR 752 and trail 427 which is really an ATV trail because its so narrow. We found the remains of a cabin with 200-300 very old steel cans on the ground rusting away. Then we backtracked to Union Park and found FR 764 labeled Slaughterhouse Gulch. That's where the Christmas tree inside the old building was. It has a short section with optional deep ruts that I just blew through there is an easy line to the right around the ruts. That trail took us to Cumberland pass road and the town of Tincup.

I left the guys there to make it to work on time. Afterword I guess they unsuccessfully tried Tincup Pass fron the west and Taylor pass from the South. I think it was snow banks that turned them back on both.

Scott, i'm really not anti bear like the first post implies. Bears need a place to be bears and do bear activities. I was on the bear's turf and should have known better. Its totally my fault for leaving the bait out in the open like I did, both times. :pat:

In Ouray it was an adult black bear. I think this one was a junior brown bear but not exactly a cub, it looked brown in my headlights. On all fours this one was just about 30 inches tall.

 

I just got back from Mammoth Lakes, CA and one of the guys that was staying in the same cabin as us left some bread, jelly, pb, chips - a bunch of snack food from the drive up- in his front seat of his Accord. The next morning he went outside and found his windshield bashed and broken laying next to the car!! A bear had smacked it a few times and then punched a hole into it and pulled the entire glass piece out to get to the goodies he left on the seat!!
I just about had a heart attack, because I had a cooler with all of our hot dogs/hamburgers in the back of my 4Runner. I couldn't see my truck from where I was standing looking at his mess, so I ran to see if it was wrecked too. Mine was ok, not even touched!!
That was the last time we left ANY food in our vehicles the rest of the trip. I don't think bears suck, they are just scary strong. And it makes you start thinking about how most things aren't really that secure, if they smell food they will get to it or bash the hell out of it trying.

 

Maybe I should switch to a diet of ramen noodles and canned junk for camping. Bears aren't so good at opening cans without a can opener. So much for eating good food in camp.

 

Thanks for a killer time gentlemen. My guts are finally feeling better, those City Market banannas were a little rough on me I guess.

Cool trails, lots of fun.

The creek was cool too, never seen anything like that before.

My antenna is now JB welded back together.

Thankfully the cops up there are nice.

My CD player broke on the way home, so all the way from Salidas to Canon City, at around 11 at night, I had to listen to mariachi music through the canyon on 50.

When are we doing this again?

 

Tin cans would not stop a bear if they could smell what was in there. A bear's claws would certainly rip a can open in nothing flat. I doubt that a cooler would stop them either if they smell food in it unless its made of some pretty serious metal and I've never seen a cooler that strong. I did a quick search and saw some bear resistant boxes advertised and they were made of 12ga steel sheet.

There was a container I saw for backpackers too, but they don't seem to say what its made of and it doesn't hold much anyway.

Unless you've got a strong container, about the only thing you can do is hang your food up high and that takes some work too. Its got to be like 12' off the ground and away from trees so the bears can't us the tree to gain height and reach out to the food. Some bear-prone backpacking places have wires up in the trees that you hang food from using a rope or cable, although there have been cases where the bears have broken ropes letting the food drop to the ground. See this site for some info.

If you're in Grizzly country backpacing, I think it is standard practice to cook and eat well away from where you sleep, being very careful to keep anything that might smell like food away from where you sleep. (e.g. don't use your shirt for a napkin and wear it to bed!)

Its sobering to hear that a bear would smash a windshield to get at food, so I guess I shouldn't be too complacent about thinking food is ok in a vehicle anymore.

Alan

 

Sorry I missed the trip, but was on a backhoe for two days that
week end. A two hour job turned into a two day job.

One of these days I look forward to going along.

If you ever need any info about the area around Buena Vista or
Salida let me know.